Xiang Yuan (香橼; Xiāng Yuán; Latin: Citri Fructus; English: citron fruit) is the dried ripe fruit of the citron tree — the plump lemon-yellow fruit with a bright, deep scent, kept on desks and cut into slices for warm water on mood-heavy autumn days. It is warm, acrid, bitter, and sour, enters the Liver, Spleen, and Lung channels, and its core actions are to soothe the liver and regulate qi, and to harmonize the stomach and ease pain. It is the calm, aromatic herb for a bound mood and a heavy stomach. The usual amount is 3–6 g in a decoction. It does not need first, last, or wrapped decoction handling, and it steeps well.
It is not Fo Shou. Buddha's hand is also warm, acrid, bitter, and sour, but its sour is more marked and it leans to soothing the liver and resolving constraint, with a phlegm side too; this fruit carries a heavier bitter note and leans to the stomach. It is not the ordinary lemon of the kitchen either; the medicinal material is the checked, dried fruit piece. In yin-deficiency with heat — a red tongue without a coat, a dry mouth — or with excess stomach acid, using it on your own is a poor match. Chest-flank pain or stomach pain that keeps worsening needs a clinic first. Do not take it yourself for a long time.
It is used most often for three patterns:
-
Chest-flank fullness and pain, a low mood, easy bloating after meals, pre-period breast swelling — liver qi bound up
-
Belly fullness and pain, frequent belching, poor appetite, indigestion after meals — spleen-stomach qi stagnation
-
Red tongue without a coat, a dry mouth, or excess stomach acid — skip it
Warm, acrid, bitter, and sour, it is not a daily "mood fruit tea" to keep drinking. Regulating qi when there is no blockage, or in yin-deficiency with heat, stirs or dries instead of helping.
When mood or irregular eating binds the qi, the chest and flanks fill, the mood sinks, and the stomach feels heavy with belching; when the liver qi reaches the stomach, fullness and pain follow meals. Xiang Yuan is warm, acrid, bitter, and sour. It frees the qi and harmonizes the middle, which is why it appears in Xiang Yuan Wan (Citron Pill)–type formulas. It moves more than it holds. In yin-deficiency with heat, or with excess stomach acid, more makes it worse.
Xiang Yuan is not a catch-all mood or stomach herb. In yin-deficiency with heat, with excess stomach acid, or with no qi blockage, using it alone is a poor match. Whether it belongs in a formula, and at what dose, should be decided by a licensed Chinese medicine practitioner after pattern diagnosis.
